


One Man's Trash

by jive



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Garbagemen, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-17 11:02:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8141479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jive/pseuds/jive
Summary: Gabriel’s beanie gets thrown away. A cute garbageman, Jack, helps him find it. Gabriel attempts to ask Jack out in one of the most convoluted ways possible.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For [orenjimaru](http://orenjimaru.tumblr.com). Here’s your Garbageman AU. I hope you’re pleased with yourself.
> 
>  
> 
> ~~What has my life become.~~

“Oh, that ratty thing? I threw it away. You really should get a new one. Or better taste.”

Gabriel bolted out the door, cursing the entire way. He should have known that Amelie was to blame for his favorite beanie going missing. He suspected she was the culprit, sure, but he didn’t expect her to stoop so low so as to throw it away. The familiar rumbling of a dump truck made his heart sink and he urged his legs to go faster.

“Wait! Wait!” he shouted, waving his arm to call the attention of the one of the garbagemen. Briefly, he wondered what the hell he was doing. Amelie had a point.

The beanie was old, ratty, and very frayed. It was long overdue to be replaced. Then again, he had this beanie for years. It had been with him through some of the roughest patches of his life. It had sentimental value. Gabriel hated to think of it that way, but it was like a security blanket of sorts.

To his surprise, the garbage truck actually stopped at the curb. The driver door swung open, and the garbageman – with the bluest eyes Gabriel had ever seen – hopped out. “Yes, can I help you with something?” Though his face and clothes were smeared with grime – grime that Gabriel didn’t quite care to think about where it came from – Gabriel noted that the man was quite handsome, and swallowed the lump that had so suddenly formed at his throat.

He quickly snapped back to his senses. This was no time for cute garbagemen. He had more important things to worry about. “I know you’re probably in a rush to get your job done, but my roommate threw away something kinda really important to me, and–”

“You want to look for it?” the garbageman – Jack, Gabriel noted from the tag on the man’s uniform – finished for him.

Gabriel scratched the back of his neck. God, he felt so stupid. “Yeah, if that’s okay with you. I mean I’ll understand if yo-”

“Sure, no problem,” Jack said, scurrying to the side of the truck and pulling a lever. The truck groaned to life, the giant maw at the back that had been holding all the garbage in lifted, and Gabriel’s heart sunk in his chest. “I have to warn you though, it’s pretty rank in there. Are you sure you can’t just get a new… whatever it is you’re looking for?” Jack let out a small laugh upon seeing the disgusted look on Gabriel’s face and moved to turn the engine off.

“Beanie,” Gabriel supplied, “And no, I can’t. Not really. Like I said, this beanie is pretty damn important to me.” Steeling himself, he hopped into the back of the truck. The urge to puke from the horrible smell hit him like, well, a garbage truck, and he stood still for a few moments, taking the time to suppress his body’s desire to gag and get also get used to the smell.

He felt the truck dip, and looked up in confusion.

“I did warn you about the smell,” Jack laughed. It was kind of unfair how good this guy looked – even when shin-deep in garbage and a shitty blue cover-all that had definitely seen better days. Gabriel was so irritated by the situation that couldn’t decide if he wanted to see more of that smile or punch it off that stupidly handsome face. Instead, he decided to dive right in and begin looking for his beanie. Rolling up his sleeves and mentally preparing himself, he began to dig near his feet.

“So, what’s this beanie look like?” he heard Jack ask from somewhere behind him.

“Black, wool-knit. Kinda worn. Has a few holes here and there,” Gabriel answered, not really paying Jack all that much attention.

“Sounds like your roommate probably had the right idea,” Jack murmured under his breath. Gabriel looked up in both surprise and confusion, when he heard clattering from the other side of the truck. Jack shrugged lazily at him. “Thought you could use the help. Would be pretty shitty of me to just make you look for it on your own. Plus, this’ll be faster.”

He had a point. Gabriel replied with some semblance of a noise that signaled his agreement, and did his best not to stare when Jack bent over and his coveralls clung to his ass.

An hour passed.

No luck. They stopped to take a break, and Gabriel ran back inside the house – much to Amelie’s disgust, _“You smell like you rolled in garbage and several dead animals!”_ – to grab a few bottles of water. Some for himself and some for Jack. He owed the guy at least that much, he was doing Gabriel a huge favor, after all.

He nearly tripped and fell into a gutter when he went back outside and spotted Jack sitting on the back of the truck. The coveralls, previously worn properly fastened up, were rolled down so the sleeves were tied to Jack’s waist, revealing a very tight-fitting black t-shirt that left little to the imagination. Gabriel had more muscle overall, but still… Handsome, nice, and built? _Seriously_. How the fuck was this fair?

He pushed the thoughts away quickly, and tossed a bottle at Jack. Jack caught it with a look of confusion on his face, as if he hadn’t expected anything from him at all. Gabriel couldn’t decide if he should feel insulted that Jack saw him as not having any manners, or a little saddened at the realization that people didn’t think twice about guys like Jack, who worked their asses off doing thankless jobs that no one else would want to do.

“Thanks, by the way,” he said, after downing his entire bottle.

Jack looked up at him with a look of total surprise. “O-oh. No problem,” he replied, cheeks turning a little red. This guy probably wasn’t used to getting this much attention, Gabriel thought to himself. His reaction was actually kind of endearing.

They spend another two hours searching until finally, finally, the beanie was found. Gabriel laughed hysterically when he snatched it up from beneath a smashed-up watermelon. He was so happy and relieved that he went so far as to scramble over to Jack, who had been focused on searching that he nearly fell over in surprise, and grabbed him in a full-bodied bear hug and lifted him a few inches off the floor of the dump truck.

“Fuck yes!! Finally!!” Gabriel cried cheerfully.

Jack offered his congratulations, returning Gabriel’s smile and clapping politely.

“Thanks, man, I seriously owe you big time,” he said, upon finally coming down from his high. “I’m Gabriel Reyes, by the way.” He offered out his hand.

“Jack Morrison,” Jack replied, taking Gabe’s hand and giving it a few firm shakes. “And no worries. Glad we were able to find it.”

No, but seriously, how the hell was that smile even fair?!

After they exchanged their goodbyes and Gabriel returned home, he made it a point to throw the reeking beanie at Amelie, who shrieked when the thing landed on her face. Gabriel got a remote to the face for the nerve, but it was totally worth it.

Weeks passed after that without incident, and every once in a while, Gabe would spot Jack driving in his dump truck, or picking up garbage bags from the sidewalk. Out of courtesy, Gabriel waved to him in greeting, and Jack would wave back cheerfully, smile beaming.

It wasn’t for another few weeks that Gabriel decided he would ask Jack out. He didn’t want to put Jack on the spot, so he came up with the ingenious plan to write his name and number on a coffee cup with a simple “Jack, Call Me. -Gabriel”, and leave it right on top of the trash can on collection days.

He got no response from Jack for 5 weeks in a row before he decided to confront him. What was the deal? If Jack wasn’t interested, you would think he would be direct enough to at least let Gabriel know for certain. Or at the very least, stop acting so friendly and happy to see Gabriel when they exchanged greetings.

“Okay, so what gives?” Gabriel asked, point blank and confronting Jack at the curbside.

“I beg your pardon?” Jack looked confused, unsure as to what Gabriel was referring to.

“If you aren’t interested, you could at least do a guy a favor and let him know so he doesn’t spend weeks waiting for a call…” Gabriel reached over and grabbed the coffee cup sitting atop his trash can. He held it up pointedly, making sure Jack could see his message and his telephone number as clear as day.

“W-Wait,” Jack looked completely lost, face flushing as Gabriel’s words sunk in. “You mean those cups were for me? I’d just been throwing them away, thinking they were trash!!”

Gabriel’s jaw dropped. “What kind of asshole would leave a lone, empty coffee cup sitting on top of a garbage can instead of opening the damn lid and putting it where it belongs? Of course they weren’t trash! They had your name on them!”

“I don’t know, the same kind of asshole who would be dumb enough to assume that the garbageman wouldn’t automatically assume it was trash because it was next to the damn trash,” Jack shot back defensively.

“Well maybe that asshole thought putting his number on the side of the actual garbage can itself was a little tacky and he was trying to be subtle!”

“Maybe that asshole should just stop trying to be subtle and quit beating around the bush, because the garbageman might actually be interested!” Jack’s face turned completely red, and he looked utterly mortified at what just flew out of his mouth.

Gabriel blinked back owlishly, equally as surprised as Jack. The anger and tension completely dissipated. Just like that.

_Oh._

“If that’s the case, then maybe the asshole and the garbageman should go on a date tonight some time around 7?” Gabriel asked, trying to come off as casual as possible.

“Y-yeah, sure,” Jack replied, looking extremely flustered. “I’ll see you then, I guess.”

Gabriel left Jack to resume his job and went back inside, pumping his fist in victory. He was definitely looking forward to tonight.

**Author's Note:**

> I literally wrote garbage. ...OTL


End file.
